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Friends who often watch American TV series will definitely see this kind of plot: the family prepares to decorate the children's room before the child is born, and the people decorate the house by painting and pasting wallpaper, and move in directly without letting it air dry. Aren't you confused when you see this?
The formaldehyde problem after the renovation of a new house has always been a concern for many people in China. However, in the United States, many families do not seem to worry about the formaldehyde problem. Is it because there is no formaldehyde here, so there is no need to worry?
Indoor Decoration Pollution Sources
At present, indoor pollution mainly exists in the following three aspects:
- Wall paint, wallpaper, wall glue: such as various glass glue, tile glue, stone glue, floor glue, etc.
- Various interior decoration boards: including various plywood, fiberboard, blockboard, core board, medium-density fiberboard, particle board, etc., which are widely used in home decoration, such as cabinets, door frames, floor keels, background walls, and some homemade furniture.
- Various indoor furniture and home furnishings: Most furniture will use various glues and boards, so indoor furniture will inevitably become a major source of home decoration pollution. In addition, formaldehyde is also widely present in various plush, clothes, curtains, and chemical fiber products. From sofas, soft beds, coffee tables, and TV cabinets to curtains, window covers, and pillows, they all contain a certain amount of formaldehyde. Since the materials of the furniture itself are different, the time cycle from processing to transportation and door-to-door delivery is relatively short, so indoor furniture pollution is more difficult to control than decoration pollution.
Formaldehyde Safety Standards Are Different
Judging from the source of formaldehyde pollution alone, these furniture materials are also used in foreign decoration, but why is there less formaldehyde pollution in foreign decoration?
As for the harm of formaldehyde, I believe that everyone knows it without saying much. It is identified as a Class I carcinogen by the World Health Organization. Long-term exposure to excessive formaldehyde is extremely harmful to the human body and may also induce leukemia. It is precisely because we know the harm of formaldehyde that most domestic families will leave the house vacant for a period of time after decoration to ventilate it and wait for a while before moving in to avoid being poisoned.
Formaldehyde is commonly found in decoration materials such as boards, furniture, wallpaper, carpets, paints, glues, etc. Therefore, when it comes to decoration, whether in China or the United States, formaldehyde cannot be completely avoided. However, the difference between the two sides is that the standards for formaldehyde emission in decoration materials are different.
Take the most common board materials for interior decoration as an example. As early as 2011, the United States implemented the "Composite Wood Products Formaldehyde Standard Act", which clearly defines the limits of formaldehyde emission in various types of man-made boards. For example, for medium-density fiberboard, the formaldehyde emission shall not exceed 0.11ppm; for particleboard, the formaldehyde emission shall not exceed 0.09ppm. You may not have any idea of these values by just saying them, but you will understand if we compare them with the Chinese standards.
China divides artificial boards into two grades, E1 and E2, of which E1 is the board that can be used directly indoors. The qualified standard for formaldehyde emission of E1 particleboard in China is less than 9mg/l00g. The 0.09ppm of particleboard in the US standard is equivalent to 0.09mg/kg. The difference between 9mg/l00g and 0.09mg/kg is 1000 times. In other words, for this material, the formaldehyde emission of qualified products in the US is one thousandth of that of qualified products in China.
There is another type of material that releases a large amount of formaldehyde in general interior decoration - paint. While Chinese people generally pay attention to the formaldehyde emission in paint, in the United States, people are more concerned about the VOC content in paint. VOC refers to various organic volatile substances including formaldehyde. Generally, the toxic and harmful substances released by paint are basically included in VOC.
As early as 2011, California stipulated that the VOC content of paint should be less than 25 grams per liter. Currently, the VOC standard for qualified paints in China's national standard is less than 200 grams per liter, and the standard for the Green Ten Ring Certification in the domestic paint industry is less than 80 grams per liter. In total, the content of harmful substances in paints is several times different.
By comparison, the domestic regulations on the content of harmful substances in paints can be said to be very relaxed.
Realistic Conditions to Reduce Formaldehyde Damage
The United States is vast and sparsely populated, as data shows. The average residential area is about 176 square meters. According to domestic statistics, the per capita housing construction area of Chinese residents in 2016 was 40.8 square meters. If it is a family of three, the average residential area is 120 square meters. Generally speaking, harmful substances released by building materials in small spaces are more likely to accumulate. Larger houses are more likely to volatilize. In addition, the greenery around houses in North America is very good. The living environment is suburban in domestic terms. There are either trees or grass around. The distance between houses is large, the air is better, and the house will "breathe" more smoothly.
In addition to the size of the house, there are also decoration habits. Most new houses in China are delivered to buyers in a bare-shell state. In this case, the owner of the new house must renovate it completely. But when new houses in the United States are delivered, they are all decorated. In other words, at least here, the formaldehyde and other harmful substances in the new house itself will be partially emitted in advance due to the pre-construction, and when the buyer moves in, the pollution itself will not be as serious as it would be if the house was just renovated.
In terms of home living habits, Americans are used to buying ready-made wardrobes directly. In China, people are used to asking construction workers to use boards to build some wardrobes and furniture during renovation, and artificial boards are one of the important sources of formaldehyde in China.
Finally, I would like to say that there is nothing wrong with paying more attention to the environment around you, but you don’t need to care too much about this issue.
